Nuka Hiva, Daniel's Bay waterfall

June 2, 2014
The hike to the waterfall

Overlapping points of land hide the bay so that if you did not know it was there you would never find it.   A lovely sheltered cove surrounded by steep volcanic cliffs, packed with boats.  There is barely room to anchor.  We find a spot and drop anchor and relax.  It has only taken us a little over an hour to make the trip  but I am a nervous wreck from the wild wind, crazy seas and tricky entrance.  We are here to hike to the waterfall,  the 3rd highest in the world. 

In the morning we take the dingy ashore and set off.  The books say it is a 2.5 hour walk to the waterfall,  The trail follows the shore around a point and suddenly we are in a lush valley running back between sheer cliffs.   The grass has been mowed to form a lovely meadow planted with fruit trees;  pampelmose, palm, lime, banana and hibiscus everywhere.  There are lovely homes scattered up the valley, a few people working in the orchards, dogs, horses.

Gradually the valley narrows and we leave the cultivated land behind and enter a forest of hau trees, The ground covered with the lovely blossoms in a colors form bright yellow to deep crimson.  The Hau tree is an ancestral  variety of hibiscus that grows everywhere on these islands.  It has long thin branches that take root when they touch the ground forming a tangled maze of trees.  The blossoms are bright yellow in the morning and gradually darken during the day until by nightfall they are a rich crimson.  There is a variety in Mexico that is slightly smaller and becomes a deep blood red.  They only last for one day.

As we walk along we realize that we are following ruined walls of an old town.  For the entire 3 hour  hike we are surrounded by the remainders of a vast civilization that once lived here.  Every where you look there are walls of massive stones now overgrown with ferns and moss.  Sometimes walking along old walls, sometimes squishing through the mud, deep and deeper into the valley we go.  If you look up at the cliffs it seems like they are going to fall in on you.
We come to an open spot in the trees and there, miles ahead, is the waterfall dropping from the top of the cliffs.  Then we are back under the trees and in the shadow of the cliffs.

The trail in marked with piles of stones at random intervals but on one particularly soggy patch we loose the trail and come again to the river, now running deep and fast.   It looks like the path continues  on the other side.  We plunge in, hanging onto rocks and make it across to discover that this is not the main path.  There is a lovely view of the waterfall from here but the path peters out into a treacherous meadow where the rocks and mud and fallen branches are covered with plants so that you cannot see where to step  We try several directions but ii becomes obvious that this is not it.  I am ready to stop and eat lunch and head back but Alan is determined to keep on.  Back on the other side of the river we find an old wall and follow it through the trees until Alan spots another pile of stones marking the path.  On we go.  We cross the river again, wet up to our knees, solving onto the rocks to avoid being swept downstream.   The cool water feels good.  Alan leans over too far and our tube of insect repellant slips out of his backpack and goes floating downstream.   We catch up with a small group of French bickers who tell us it is “just 5 more minutes”.

Then we are skirting a sheer cliff, across the river again and out into an open meadow.  There is the waterfall hundreds of feet above.  We cannot see the base of it because it is hidden around the curve of another sheer rock face.  Time for lunch and a rest before we head on back down.  It is after noon.  The hike has taken us almost 3 hours and we do not want to be caught out in the dark.  It is still hard to realize that it is dark by 6:00.  The walk down goes more quickly.  It is quiet here with only the sound of the river and the birds.  We do not see anyone else.  The french group is ahead of us and there is one more group of sailors behind us.  We stop about halfway to eat our last pampelmose.  This is a wonderfully sweet fruit much like a grapefruit, very juicy and messy but delicious.  When we reach the valley floor we are intercepted by a woman offering us lunch for only 2,000CPF ($20) unfortunately we have not brought any money with us so we decline regretfully and go on our way back along the shore to where we left the dingy.  We have a quick swim on the beach and then head back, ready for dinner and bed.

 When we anchored here yesterday there were 16 boats in this tiny bay.  This morning about half of them left and by the time we got back from our hike there was only one other boat left.  During the night we were buffeted by strong gusts of wind tearing down the canyons and across the bay.  This was the first time we had anything blow overboard in all of our stormy sailing.  We lost both a blouse that I had left out to dry and a dingy fender.  Tomorrow we leave the Marquesas for the Tuamotos.